Kill your darling
by xnaoko-chanx
Summary: Kakashi is an eccentric collector of books who searches help to sort out his collection. Sakura is a zealous medicine student who's looking for the perfect internship headquarters. Neither knows they'll be getting more than they bargained for.


"Oomph."

This rather unintelligent sound was the last thing that escaped Hatake Kakashi's masked lips before slumping down onto the beautiful mahogany floor. The same lovely floor was the first thing to get back into the man's sight as he regained consciousness a good half hour later. He took a good, long look along the room he was occupying, before carefully getting back up. Lethargically rubbing the soar back of his head with a gloved hand, he searched the dim-lit space with one droopy eye. Crouching down, he bent forward to pick up one especially large and heavy-looking object. He sat like this silently for a moment, gazing at the object in his hands with an almost nostalgic expression on the visible part of his face. Then, he furrowed his silver eyebrows. "You are no longer my favorite.", he spoke sternly, carelessly throwing the book over his shoulder.

A great, ear-deafening rumbling had the house shaking like a leaf. "An earthquake!", said the kids next door. "A military jet!", said the old man outside. "Shit. My books.", said Hatake Kakashi, who wasn't allowed the time to turn around and see the wall of books that piled up all the way to the ceiling come crashing down at him much like a rock-slide would after the monsoon. Within seconds Kakashi, the man, was erased from sight and replaced by Kakashi, the book pillar. When, several hours later, he had finally managed to free himself from his literary grave, he took a stand upon the impressive mountain of paper that was now situated in the middle of the room. Taking in the sight of the remaining books stacked in the room, that were even blocking most of the window so only a few rays of light illuminated the room, the tall man gave a slight shrug with his shoulders. "Well. I guess that was bound to happen sooner or later." Sliding down the paper mountain with a surfer-like grace, he picked up one particular copy from the chaos. "I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry. You will always be my favorite.", he spoke apologetically to the brightly-colored cover, before tucking it into the back pocket of his pants. Shoving both of his gloved hands into the front pockets, he stood quietly among the chaos, his posture slightly slouched, before sighing deeply. "My my. What a mess." And bad luck too, that his housekeeper was on vacation. Hatake Kakashi maybe wasn't the most orderly of men, but he cared deeply for his prized collection of literature, and to have them laying about in such wild abandon on the floor was disturbing him a great deal.

Then again, the thought of him having to clean it all up himself disturbed him possibly even more. Thus, a plan was in order.

Making his way over to what was left of the window, Kakashi started moving books to the sides of the room. After a good while, the shape of a desk came into sight. Dust was now clinging to his clothes like a blanket and dulling the shine of his silver-gray hair that eccentrically spiked into all directions. Taking seat on a pile of books, he blew off the dust from the typewriter that sat snugly in the middle of the desk. Soon the plan had taken verbal shape:

Handsome booklover (M) searches young, cute student (F) for archiving prized collection of rare books (part-time). Housing included. Extravagant pay.

He read it over once, and smirked. "Surely one bunny is bound to fall into that trap.", he mumbled to himself, nearly falling over when trying to lean back. He quickly corrected himself and leant on the desk instead, looking strangely at the typewriter in front of him before ripping out the advert and striding out of the room, sending a few more books down to the floor as he kicked the door shut behind him.

xxxxxx

"Handsome booklover, male, searches young, cute student, female, for archiving prized collection of rare books, part-time. Housing included. Extravagant pay." Sakura Haruno frowned. "This sounds like a not-so-straightforward advert for an in-house prostitute."

"What?" Ino nearly ripped the advert trying to grab it back from her friend. Her face growing increasingly distressed as she read the piece of paper over. "Well. I guess you could read it that way." Hastily continuing: "But it's not! I tell you, this 'handsome booklover' is Genma's friend."

"And that's supposed to be a recommendation?", Sakura scoffed. "The man I know most likely to have an in-house prostitute IS Genma." "FOREHEAD! That's my boyfriend you're talking about!" Ino threw a half-hearted punch towards Sakura's pink-haired head, that she easily dodged. "Boyfriend, is it now? I thought it was just 'fooling around' and 'nothing serious'. Hmm. What was it that you said? Ah! 'Just for fun and thrills'."

The color of Ino's face slowly started to resemble that of Sakura's hair as she mumbled something dismissively. Sometimes Sakura's tape-recorder memory could really get on her nerves. She quickly changed back to the original subject. "It's the perfect solution for you. His house is slap-bang in the middle of the old centre, just a few streets away from the general hospital where you have your internships. You don't have to worry about finding housing anymore and on top of that you get a little extra money to spare. You know, for such unimportant, mundane things like food." Ino leered at her friend, not so subtly berating her for skipping meals in favor of her studies. Sakura was a medicine student, and a damn good one at that, but it came at a price. Most of the time she walked around looking worse than her patients. According to Ino it was thanks to her good care that Sakura was even able to continue her studying at the top of her year. Sakura, of course, begged to differ, but usually let her friend take credit. Arguing with Ino was a tiring thing, and Sakura was tired enough as it was.

"Plus, his collection is the real thing, apparently.", Ino cheerfully continued. "Genma told me even he has only seen a few glimpses of it and no matter how much he begged, he wasn't allowed to borrow even one book. Rumor has it that guy spend half of his family's fortune on it and still flies all over the world to go auctions, just to steal away the best books for his own collection." Sakura already had her nose back into her copy of 'Gray's Anatomy'. "Doesn't that just testify of bad financial management? And maybe he doesn't trust Genma with his books." Frowning, she muttered; "I sure as heck wouldn't."

Swiftly ignoring her friend's last statement, Ino was quick to reply. "If you have such amounts of money, there's no need to manage it. And don't make me laugh. Genma and that dude go way back apparently. Something about being army-buddies. If they would trust each other with their lives, why not with a damn book?" Sakura's answer consisted of a non-committal grunt and the sound of rustling paper. Though, she could not help but get slightly warmed up for the idea. A room of her own in the middle of the old town, perfectly located for her studies, with a hopefully decent pay on top of that, and all she had to do was bring order into some clueless rich dude's book collection. RARE book collection on top of that, apparently. Sakura's fingers started to itch slightly. Before taking up medicine, she had briefly considered studying literature, and right now her only activities besides those study-related were reading fiction and boxing. Hmm. How much would 'extravagant pay' be, exactly?

"Who knows." Ino smirked deviously. "I knew you would be interested." Sakura looked up disturbed. Had she said that out loud? She sighed wearily, throwing her up hands in defeat. "Alright, I surrender. I'm interested." She paused. "There's just one problem."

"What? What?" Ino demanded feverishly.

"I'm not cute."

Ino's desperate cry could be heard all the way down the block.

"You have GOT to be KIDDING ME!"

"What?" Sakura looked up at her friend with wide, perfectly innocent eyes. "The only who ever told me I'm cute was you, Ino-pig, and quite frankly, you don't count."

"And why the hell not?", Ino demanded viciously, looking as dangerous as one could while unarmed.

".. You're my best friend. You're supposed to say stuff like that."

"You really think I would lie to you out of pity?"

"Yes."

"Dammit, forehead." Ino groaned exasperatedly. "You ARE cute, believe me. And if you would only ever LISTEN to me and all those ten-thousand tips I give you for the benefit of your health and looks, everyone with two eyes in his head and a brain big enough to interpret what he's seeing would tell you the same. As it is now, it's simply a case of looking through the dirt. "

"What? But I took a shower yesterday."

"Not that, idiot! It was a metaphor! God, I thought you were the one with the IQ over 130." Quickly running out of patience with her friend who was surprisingly dim-witted for a prize-winning student, Ino grabbed Sakura by the wrist and dragged her to the bathroom. Positioning her in front of the mirror under loud protest from Sakura's side, Ino stood behind her. "Look.", she commanded. Sakura looked. She saw a girl of average height, maybe slightly on the skinny side, with narrow hips, skinny legs and small breasts with a barely-there cleavage covered by a badly fitting dress shirt. A heart shaped face, dull green eyes and sad roseate hair hanging down at chin's length. The girl frowned. "This is not exactly proving your point, Pig." Ino groaned. "Like I said, it's a matter of looking through the dirt." Before Sakura could protest again that even though she was not cute, she was perfectly hygienic, Ino had stepped in-between her and the mirror. Quickly she pulled out the various clips out of Sakura's hair designed to keep the strands away from her face even when bent over her study books. "Ouch!" The next half hour was a fury of creams and brushes and other tools plus Sakura's accompanying cries of anguish and protest. Ino would have none of it, telling her over and over: "Who wants to be cute, has to suffer!" "I don't want to be cute!", Sakura cried out at last. "But you want 'extravagant pay', no?", Ino replied devilishly. "And a house right arou-" "Alright alright! Do whatever evil you need to do.", Sakura submitted sadly, her head stinging and her eyes tearing from whatever it was that Ino had done to them. "No need to cry, forehead, I'm already done."

Ino stepped back behind her friend, leaving Sakura in front of the mirror. Sakura looked, and had already opened her mouth to say that it hadn't changed a thing, until something suddenly caught her eye. Had her eyes always been this green? She peered into the mirror. And her skin, wasn't it usually much more pale? And her hair, how did her hair suddenly frame her face so naturally, so.. cute?

"Ino.. " Sakura paused, nearly gasping for air like a fish on the dry. ".. What the hell did you do to me?"

"Oh. I just cleaned up the dirt a bit." Ino grinned, lazily twisting a hairbrush around with her fingers. "If you let me go through you wardrobe next, it'll get even better." She wrinkled her nose. "A push-up bra would do you wonders."

"Ino-pig!"

xxxxxx

"Dude. I tell ya, she's a total bombshell."

"Hmm."

"Perfect sizes, long blonde hair, big blue eyes."

"Ah."

"And the way she go-"

"Two beers.", the waitress announced loudly, brutally interrupting Genma's description, and maybe so for the better.

"Great.", Genma commented cheerfully, not the least disturbed. "Here's yours, Kakashi. Cheers!"

"Cheers." his friend said flatly, downing half of it in a single swig.

"Ey. Take it easy mate. You still depressed over that advert?"

"It was a perfect advert. Perfect. But zero bunnies showed up. I don't get it."

"Wha?" Genma shot his friend a strange glance, before conveniently ignoring the bunnything. "I'm sure some cute gall will show up on your doorstep soon enough." He raised his beer to his lips, before suddenly slamming it back down on the table. "I nearly forgot! I told my girl about your advert, and she said she might know someone."

"Oh?" It was the most interested Kakashi had sounded during the whole conversation so far.

"Yeah. Something about her roommate who's going on internship in the old town and needing a place near there. Apparently those internships are pretty intense so she'll be making late nights and can't get all the way back to where my girl lives. On top of that she seems to be a bit of a geek. "

"Geek?"

"Confused professor shit. Forgets to eat and that sort of stuff. Seems like my girl was watching out for her while they were living together." Genma took a sip of his beer before looking intently at Kakashi. "She would feel a lot better if there would be somebody watching over her, y'know?"

"You want me to play bunnykeeper?" Kakashi deadpanned, emptily gazing at his friend with one droopy eye. "Not happening."

"Aww, Kashi. Why not?", Genma whined. "You get your help and you make my girl happy. And if you make my girl happy, you make me happy."

"I get that, you idiot don corleone. Let me ask you one thing. Do I look like a fucking parental figure to you?"

Genma casually let his eyes fly over the opposite man's appearance. Eccentric, silver spiky hair. Loose bandana covering one eye. Mask covering half of face. Turtleneck sweater with rolled up sleeves, showing scars and the lower part of a tattoo. Lean but slouched posture. Overall handsome appearance yet with mysterious air of a weathered fighter. You know. The type that wouldn't miss a beat before breaking your neck.

He smirked. "Furthest thing from my mind."

"That's what I thought."

Genma grinned. He couldn't fault his friend for his reasoning. In any case, Kakashi wasn't the easiest of people to handle. Maybe it would be for the better if that girl didn't show up after all. He sighed. This was too much plotting for his liking. He shrugged. "Who knows if she'll show up in the end? I'm just asking ya to not let her starve to death between those precious books of yours in case she does."

"Hn. You sure do seem to care a lot about that new bunny of yours. Don't tell me it's actually going somewhere this time?"

Genma choked on his beer, then mumbled something about having to get the bill. Kakashi languidly leaned backwards, folding his hands behind his head. He didn't care much for intrigues, but if it brought him a nice young student who was gonna clean up his books behind him, then it was all for the better. A win-win situation, he liked to think. A lazy smile crossed his masked lips. That is, if she passed his interview.

xxxx

For the umpteenth time Sakura pulled at her dress shirt. That new bra Ino had given her had a much tighter fit than what she was used to and it was bothering her to no end. The only reason she was wearing it at all was that even she couldn't deny the positive effect it had on her cleavage. Somehow it put the whole of her body into much better proportions. Sakura had knowledge of anatomy far surpassing the average person, but this kind of thing stayed a mystery to her. Ino had again taken her face and hair under her care, with possibly even better results than the last time. It was only when she slyly tried to talk Sakura into a miniskirt and a fringe top that Sakura dug her heels in, declaring that her usual dress shirt would be just fine.

And so Sakura walked up to the small coffeehouse in said dress shirt and a pair of loosely fitting pants, wearing her best smile. She had spoken to the 'handsome booklover' earlier on the phone, whose name apparently was Kakashi-something, and who's number she'd gotten from Ino. His voice had been pleasant and low, their conversation short and polite. They had agreed to meet up in a café to talk over the details of the agreement. When Sakura had asked how she should recognize him, she could hear an amused huff on the other side of the line, and after a small pause he answered that he would be 'the one with the book'.

Sakura stepped into the coffeehouse, absent-mindedly brushing away a few strands of pink hair from her face in gesture of insecurity. What if there would be more than one person with a book? It was not unthinkable in a coffeehouse like this. The aroma of burned coffee beans forced itself into the girl's nose and the place was a general hustle and bustle of waitresses and customers. It was far from fancy and more of a low-key hangout if anything. Sakura vaguely knew it since it was also a popular student's spot and she had been asked to come a few times. Needless to say, she had never gone.

As she stepped forward into the establishment it didn't take long before she noticed a man in the corner, engrossed in a small book with a bright cover. A small peek around confirmed that he was indeed the only one in the possession of a book, and with a sigh of relief Sakura made her way over to his table. "Uhm. Hello, might you be Kakashi-san?", she asked the man with her best smile, making sure to look polite and perfectly normal. The dark-haired man looked up disturbed. "Err. I'm sorry, you've got the wrong person."

"Oops." Sakura felt her face quickly growing hot. "I'm really sorry. Excuse me." She swiftly made her way to a table of her own, the dark-haired man strangely looking after her before turning back to his book. As she sank down on the chair, she let out a groan of embarrassment, sinking her head onto the table. Come on Sakura, she berated herself, nothing is lost. He's just a tad late. You just have to sit here, drink coffee, and watch out for a guy with a book. She did just that.

After her third cup she started to grow anxious. And it wasn't because of the caffeine. Sakura drank coffee like water whenever she had to study and had a tolerance for it far exceeding that of a normal person. Rather it was the fact that that Kakashi-whoever was already over an hour late that was bothering her. Was this some prank being played on her? Sakura grumbled and an annoyed frown appeared on her heart-shaped face. As if she hadn't been embarrassed enough for the day already. Just as she was starting to look around for a waiter to pick up her bill and leave, the door went open once more. A tall man stepped into the coffeehouse, a small pocket novel firmly in a gloved hand. His posture was slightly slouched and his other hand was lazily stuck into the pocket of his pants. The most striking part about him was the way half of his face was obscured from sight by a mask that reached up until his nose, and his wild silver hair encircled by a dark bandana that partly hung over one eye. He slowly lowered his book, took a look around the establishment, noticed Sakura sitting by the window, and gave her a short wave and a smile. Or rather, a happy eye crease, since the smile was barely visible. Sakura, dumbfounded, could only gape and watch as he made his way to her table, and carelessly plopped down onto the chair across of her with a cheerful "Yo.". The fact that he was over an hour late didn't seem to bother him at all. Sakura had a gnawing feeling that this wasn't just appearances and that it REALLY didn't bother him in the least. His whole damn appearance screamed non-conformist after all. Hadn't Ino said that he was Genma's army-buddy? Sakura scowled inwardly. What kind of army had that been, for Kami's sake? Che Guevara's?

Kakashi amusedly took in the appearance of the girl across of him. She didn't seem to possess the tact or will to hide her opinion of him and was currently harboring a dark and brooding glare in her vivid green eyes. It clashed beautifully with her pink hair, and Kakashi was instantly intrigued. That this feeling didn't seem to be mutual didn't bother him in the least. He had stopped caring about people's opinion of him ages ago. It was a shame though, that she was wearing such a stuffy dress shirt. On the other hand, he mused, it kind of fit her. Hadn't Genma said she was a bit of a geek? He studied her intently. She did seem slightly socially inapt, if anything. But surely such a face made up for that? He shook his head. He couldn't imagine Genma's girl would be her only friend. Then again, kids these days... He shrugged invisibly. They were way too career-driven for his tastes. "You're late." the girl stated morbidly, interrupting his trails of thoughts. What had her name been again? It had something to do with her hair, he remembered. Ah! "I'm sorry, Sakura-chan. I got lost on the road of life, I'm afraid.", he apologized politely. Sakura's large green eyes grew possible even wider as she stared at him incredulously. Was this man for real? Addressing her like he knew her for ages already and then making up such a lame excuse. This had to be a joke. Sakura frowned and opened her mouth to say something. Then her eyes fell on the book he had been reading and that was now laying casually on the table. Her face shot through all colors of the rainbow before settling on an alarming shade of red. Icha Icha? Weren't that those soft-porn novels? The girl's eyes were now as big as cups of saucers. He read those things in public? The girl no longer dared to look into his direction and settled for her own empty cup instead. So she had been right after all. He was pervert. Forgotten were the perfect room and the extravagant pay. At this moment Sakura wanted nothing but to get out of this place. Before she might die of embarrassment. She shivered. Death by embarrassment. Not so impressive. "Right." she answered shortly, eyes already searching for a waiter to get her bill. "I believe I'm done here." Kakashi's eyes shot up to her. She was clearly feeling uncomfortable and getting ready to make her exit. He grumbled. The man was far from a people-pleaser, but his own interest was at stake here. And somehow he couldn't just let this girl walk away from him.

Lazily folding his arms behind his head, he send the girl a pointed look that she met head-on, if not slightly flushed, before drawling: "That's too bad, really. Just now that I had gotten the floor all ready for you." Sakura's eyes shot instantly from the near-by waiter straight back to the man in front of her. Had he just said 'floor'? Not 'room'? How insanely big was that house of his anyway? "Err." she started, wondering how the heck she could revise her earlier statement. Kakashi smirked smugly behind his mask, inwardly praising his own bunny-trapping skills. "And now that my housekeeper is own vacation, my poor books are crumbling away under the dust and sunlight." he continued sadly, carefully monitoring the girl's expression while making sure his own stayed appropriately mournful. She was obviously biting the bait, her delicate face worried as she thought of those precious rare books crumbling away. At least, that's what Kakashi thought. In reality, it was the thought of missing out on a whole floor to herself without disturbances that was seriously bugging Sakura. Hastily she said; "I'm sorry about earlier, Kakashi-san. Too much coffee didn't do my mood well, I guess." She put up her best polite smile. "I would be honored to sort out your collection, if you let me."

"Hmm.", Kakashi pondered thoughtfully. "That depends on a few things." Sakura mouth nearly dropped open before she forced the smile back into its place. "And that would be?" she questioned quietly. "Well. Forgive my asking, but how do you feel about nudity?"

Sakura gulped and forcefully suppressed the quickly rising thoughts about perversity. Think of the books, think of the books, the floor, the extravagant pay, she inwardly chanted, before taking a deep breath. "Well, Mr. Hatake.." "Kakashi." Kakashi pleasantly corrected with a smile." "… Kakashi-san. I don't know if your friend Genma told you, but I'm a medicine student, and as such, general nudity is not much of an issue to me, but-" "Excellent!" Kakashi interrupted her, relieved. He bowed forward. "You see, I have a lot of ancient books on anatomy and biological chemistry and the like, and I wouldn't want a young student like yourself to be embarrassed while working with my books." At the words 'anatomy' and 'biological chemistry', Sakura's eyes got especially shiny, and she hastened herself to assure him that this was absolutely no problem. "Good." Kakashi sighed, and looked around for a waiter. Maybe he was not so bad after all, she thought to herself as she watched him order a tea. "There's just one more condition then." the man continued. "You are to have your meals with me." "What?" Sakura responded nonplussed, a confused expression on her face as she tugged a few strands of loose roseate hair behind her ear. Kakashi smiled lightly. "It would be a very cold thing to be living together in one house but eat separately." He sighed sadly. "Eating alone is such a bore." Truthfully he didn't mind it much, but he was curious about this girl and casual conversation over dinner would tell him more about her. And he would be obliging Genma's ridiculous request. Kakashi grumbled inwardly. That man owed him badly. Though this girl being such a looker made things a little better in his book.

Well, that shouldn't be too hard, Sakura thought to herself. It would mess up her study schedule, but she could work around that. "Sure." she answered brightly, instantly receiving another happy eye crease from Kakashi in return. "Then it is settled. You can move in tomorrow," the man declared. "Tomorrow already?" Sakura quipped surprised, before regaining her composure. "Oh, eh, sure. I have classes in the morning so I'll probably be there around noon, if that's alright?" Kakashi nodded silently, tentatively tasting his tea. Sakura flashed a nervous smile and fidgeted a bit with her hands before continuing. "Ehm. I think I'll be off then. I still have to pack everything and got homework to do, too." She was already up from her chair before Kakashi had a chance to respond. "What a shame. I was looking forward to getting to know you better." he said slowly, his one steel grey eye looking at her with an intensity that was making Sakura jumpy. Her mind was racing to find an answer but luckily he didn't wait for one. "But I guess we got enough time for that later." he finished with a smile. "See you tomorrow, Sakura-chan." "Ah, hai. See you tomorrow."

Sakura had already set a few steps towards the exit before turning back around. "Uhm, Kakashi-san?" The man looked up surprised, turning his head to face her. "Yes?" Sakura hesitated for a moment before going ahead. "How did you know it was me, when you entered the café?" Kakashi flashed a handsome grin. "Easy. You were the only young, cute student in the place." "Ah.", Sakura replied dumbfounded. "I see. Bye!" She quickly turned around, hoping to make her exit before Kakashi could spot the heated blush on cheeks. Why was she getting so worked up over his comment anyway? She closed the door of the coffeehouse behind her and took a deep breath of cool air. Even though she didn't believe he had any malicious intentions, he was still weird. That mask, the novel, not to mention his lack of manners. Her heart was hammering in her throat as she recalled the way he had looked at her when she told him she was leaving. Had she been this uptight throughout the whole conversation? Why hadn't she noticed her heart going wild before? She sighed deeply once more, trying to get a grip on herself. Surely it was just nerves. That man was strange enough to make anyone unsettled. Especially when knowing you'll have to live in the same house as none other but him. Sakura quirked an eyebrow as she started making her way down the street. Like hell she would let her personal feelings about some eccentric rich guy get between her and the perfect internship headquarters. Sakura Haruno would not back down so easily! Filled with renewed vigor she got ready to get on the bus home. Then a sudden thought knocked all the air from her lungs. Gasping she stood still, watching the bus depart in front of her eyes. The pink-haired girl barely noticed. Instead, her head was racing. The coffeehouse. It was a popular student's hangout. Sakura swallowed. The place had been full of young, female students like herself. Then how…? The girl's face heated up again. She felt her heart picking up pace once more. She groaned. That man was REALLY getting on her nerves now.

Her frustration was complete when she realized she would have to walk home.


End file.
